LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

The six-time Tony-winning 1996 Revival of CHICAGO is still earning cheers and packing in audiences both on Broadway (now in its 16th year!) and its still-running national tour--the latter of which has shimmied its way back to L.A. for a return engagement at the Pantages Theatre through May 27. This ...

When it first came out in 1985, RE-ANIMATOR quickly became a hit among horror fans and established a cult following both for the film and its mad scientist, Jeff Combs, who played Herbert West. Graham Skipper plays West in the musical and is just as fiendish as his film counterpart and funnier than ...

Few artists are as truly homegrown as Los Lobos, the Grammy Award-winning East L.A. band whose eclectic musical style and distinctive voice are much loved by Angelenos of all ages and cultures. This is the first time their music will appear in a theatrical production and that reason alone is sure to...

Playwright Dale Griffiths Stamos has conceived an intriguing world premiere evening of short one-acts, 10 -15 minutes each, called Lovestruck, all dealing with the theme of love: parental love, love based purely on sexual attraction, marital love, love for those over 70, homosexual love and even abu...

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Upon seeing The Heiress, based on Henry James' novel Washington Square, one is transported to a distant world. If middle-class values existed, they were certainly not recognized by the inhabitants of 1850 Washington Square, where members of the elitist branch of society insisted on being surrounded ...

Receiving its long overdue west coast premiere is The Fix, which premiered at the Donmar Warehouse in London in 1997 and then made its way finally to the US playing in Virginia, but never landing on Broadway. It's pure political satire with music, in the style of a rock opera, but, unlike pure rock ...

On Sunday May 6 Kritzerland presented its monthly show, May's entitled Broadway Bound: Unsung Songwriters at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. Bruce Kimmel and Adryan Russ produce a terrific evening of entertainment with an emphasis on tunes rarely if ever heard and featuring a bevy of top-notch m...

The Scottsboro Boys book by David Thompson music & lyrics by John Kander & Fred Ebb directed & choreographed by Susan Stroman Old Globe, San Diego through June 10...

If you're looking for a good example of what great hidden gems are being produced at Southern California regional theaters these days, then look (and listen) no further than the enjoyable revival of the smash musical MISS SAIGON currently playing at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts thro...

Inspired by one fortuitous day that still resonates in the timeline of rock-and-roll history, the Tony Award-nominated Broadway hit MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET--now playing at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through May 6--is a genuinely enjoyable, musically-rich stage show that's high o...

During the first half hour of Richard Raskind's world premiere The Bridge Club, I was genuinely engaged by its unusual set of circumstances, its believable dialogue and two main characters Jack (Christopher Franciosa) and Sue (Nancy Dobbs Owen). I really got to like both of them and so wanted the pl...

Few musicals capture the flavor of the early Cole Porter revues and Busby Berkeley musical films quite as well as Dames at Sea. Its constant silliness, instantaneous breaks - for no apparent reason - into song and dance... and parody of just about every musical show, especially 42nd Street, make it...

On Sunday April 29 Melody Hollis presented the new installment of Melodyland at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. Incorporating some different songs into the set like 'I'm the Greatest Star', 'Tchaikovsky', 'You've Got a Friend in Me', 'Hamlet' and a couple of others, material she has performed in...

Many plays have been written about Europe in the throes of the Holocaust and its devastating effect on the Jews who lived not only in Germany, but in other German-speaking countries such as Austria and Vienna. The future of those children was severely limited or drastically cut short. Mona Golabek i...

Despite an intriguing premise and a lovely-sounding score delivered by a brilliant cast, CLOUDLANDS--the stirring but jumbled new Adam Gwon/Octavio Solis musical now having its commissioned World Premiere production at South Coast Repertory through May 6--just doesn't quite wow your socks off. Thoug...

Last night The Annenberg Theatre played host to Chris Isaacson's Upright Cabaret and the latest installment of his American Icon Series, RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT, which plays tribute to the Latin pop-rock music made famous by Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Santana and more. There were many things to love ...

Full of biting wit and hilarious parodies of various popular Broadway shows--and the famous actors that star in them--Musical Theatre West's cabaret-style send-up FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: GREATEST HITS, VOLUME 2 plays its final, laugh-filled set of performances this weekend ending April 29 at the Carpent...

Charming and unabashedly buoyant, BILLY ELLIOT--which danced away with 10 fairly well-deserved Tony Award wins including Best Musical back in 2009--is a smile-inducing, pleasingly-staged musical based on the 2000 film. The stage musical version's national tour has finally stopped in Los Angeles for ...

Once Upon a Mattress/book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller & Marshall Barer/music by Mary Rodgers; lyrics by Marshall Barer/directed by Richard Israel...

On April 20 and 21 Peter Mac repeated one of his most challenging shows honoring Judy Garland: Judy at Carnegie Hall. To sing all 26 dynamic tunes at the highest peak as well as to replicate in minute detail the deliciously droll Garland anecdotes about her encounters with a chic Parisian hairdresse...

On Sunday April 22 composer Michele Brourman (left), joined by gifted singer Pat Whiteman (right), presented a quite extraordinary evening of mostly original musical material at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. Brourman is best known for cabaret standards such as 'My Favorite Year', with lyrics b...

As in Wonder of the World and Rabbit Hole, previous works of David Lindsay-Abaire, the playwright is not afraid to go to extremes to make a point. World is exceedingly comedic, Hole far more serious, but both have characters who find their way via a path less tread. Such is also the case with his dr...

Stepping Out by British TV writer Richard Harris is not a musical, although it was turned into one in 2010. It's a play with music and is set in Northern England in 1984, the same time period and place as Billy Elliot. It's the tale of eight women and one man who take a weekly local tap class in the...

Phantom's Leading Ladies, a trio of Broadway veterans who have all performed the role of 'Christine Daae' from The Phantom of the Opera brought an eclectic evening of music and mostly glorious three-part harmonies to The Annenberg Theater on April 14. The women that comprise The Phantom's Leading La...